— SAVE THE DATE
National Gathering on
Healing-Centered Philanthropy
Advancing Healing & Thriving in Philanthropy
What if philanthropy’s role isn’t to fix, but to help heal?
SPRING 2027 | March 29–31, 2027 | ⚲ Aspen Meadows Resort, Aspen, Colorado
Healing is the groundwork for lasting systems change
Communities, practitioners, movement leaders and funders are already spearheading this work and reimagining what lasting change can look like. Building on over a decade of learning through the Opportunity Youth Forum and our work on Belonging, Meaning, Wellbeing and Purpose, we invite you to join nearly 200 funders, practitioners and partners for bold ideas and purposeful action on what it takes to advance collective healing, wellbeing and systems change.
What is Healing Centered Philanthropy?
Healing-centered philanthropy shifts philanthropy’s role from fixing problems to cultivating the conditions where people, organizations and communities can heal and thrive. It rests on four pathways:
- A healing-centered worldview: recognizing that systems can’t transform until the people within them do
- Conditions for healing: funding rest, belonging and community-led leadership
- Right relationship: treating how a foundation shows up with communities as just as important as what it funds
- A love ethic: honoring people’s full humanity and sharing authority with those closest to the issues
To go deeper on this scholarship, explore What If Philanthropy’s Role Is Not to Fix, But to Help Heal? by Monique Miles, John Kania and Shawn A. Ginwright in Nonprofit Quarterly
What To Expect
- A shared frame. A clear, compelling and rigorous frame for healing and thriving as foundations for systems change.
- The conditions that matter. A deeper understanding of the conditions that foster healing, and how they lead to durable change and system transformation.
- What’s already working. The breadth of work underway across partner networks, communities, funders and organizations.
- Real exchange. Conversation among funders, practitioners, researchers and community leaders, with no single framework presented as the answer.
- Alignment and collaboration. Areas of alignment, productive difference and possible collaboration across the field.
- A path to action. A move from learning and reflection toward concrete changes in philanthropic practice, investment, partnership and field infrastructure, including whether a pooled fund or other collaborative vehicle should come out of the gathering.
Who Should Join:
Funders already investing in healing and wellbeing, and funders looking for a rigorous way in.
Can We Count You In?
If you’re planning to join us in Aspen, please let us know so we can count you in. If you’d like to play a bigger role, whether that’s co-creating content, sponsoring or bringing a delegation from your foundation, we’d love to connect.
This is an invitation-only gathering. Formal invitations and registration details will follow soon. If others come to mind whose work would deepen this conversation, we’d welcome their names in your reply.
We look forward to gathering with you in Aspen.
Explore the scholarship behind this gathering in Nonprofit Quarterly
💡 What if philanthropy’s most powerful contribution is not to fix communities, but to help create the conditions in which they can heal and thrive? In a new article published by Nonprofit Quarterly, our Managing Director and VP at the The Aspen Institute, Dr. Monique Miles, joins Dr. Shawn Ginwright, and John Kania, to explore a fundamental shift in how philanthropy approaches systems change — moving beyond traditional problem-solving toward healing-centered practices rooted in trust, belonging, shared power, and community agency.
Together, the authors challenge philanthropy to rethink not only what it funds, but how it operates, builds relationships, and measures success. They outline four interconnected pathways toward healing-centered philanthropy that recognize collective healing not as separate from systems change, but as essential to achieving lasting transformation.
Featured Resources
